Every year many new college graduates with fresh ideas, who are willing to learn and get trained, flood the market. Despite lacking the experience that most recruiters look for, these graduates pose competition to other candidates who have several years of experience wrapped up in their resume. This makes any recruitment exercise tough since there is no guarantee that the person they hire for a client is the best. Below are seven key tips to help you recruit the best college graduates.
1. Timing your recruitment efforts
Time is of the essence when recruiting college graduates. You must schedule your recruitment efforts right so that they correspond with the academic calendar. For instance, a large number of college graduates are more available for recruitment when an academic year is about to end. Start your recruitment process early enough to ensure that you have the best candidates by the time you need them for the job. You are also more likely to find a variety of good talents with a great mental activity that match your clients needs when you take time to obtain and recruit the graduates. With competition in job hunting, competitors who started their recruitment early will have the advantage of getting the best graduate talents as compared to what you will get because of starting your recruitment too late.
2. Formulate a career site
Everything has migrated from analog to digital today. Traditional means of recruitment stand no chance today. Create a career site to achieve your goal of recruiting the best. The site should contain a specific load page for college graduates. You can establish a unique email address for new graduates applications or make their forms different from the rest. You should connect with the graduates by advertising your site on social media so that it can gain popularity and attract a larger pool of recent college graduates with diverse talents. Make the website to be responsive on mobile devices where this young generation of graduates can access the site from their smartphone with ease.
3. Reform your hiring requirements
Remember you are looking for college graduates who most likely have no experience in the jobs you have posted. It is frustrating for any graduate to find a good entry level job that matches with their resume only to have their bubble burst when they find out that the position requires several years of experience. Therefore, consider reframing your job listing qualifications to accommodate college graduates. Focus on their IQ, skills, and abilities they attained while at school. For instance, a student who attended an internship or part-time job or engaged in extracurricular activities should be given preference when it comes to qualifications.
4. Be clear on your job description
State clearly what the role will entail. College graduates today have unique needs, plans, and demands and would not appreciate surprises later in their career. Describe a typical day at the workplace, the duties you are expected to do, working hours, workforce decorum, the required work-product quality, and your compensation level. Be sure to list any other incentives that accompany the job as this will help graduates evaluate whether the position is appropriate for them thus attracting the right candidates.
5. Offer internship programs
Build programs within your organization where you provide students with training and mentorship that equip them with real-world experience and familiarize with their talents. It is an effective strategy because it helps you gauge how a student abilities fit into your organization once they graduate. It is a retention and branding strategy too. Students are most likely to be brand ambassadors when they return to school and will want to return to the company after graduating before they enter the job market.
6. Use the right interviewing process
You must understand that college graduates resume will not be similar to those of other candidates with years of experience. Do not intimidate potential graduate candidates by overlooking their no-experience resumes. Entry level resume is different and should be treated differently. To substitute work experience, choose other screening criteria such as extra-curricular activities, leadership skills or graduates’ majors. You must be able to ask the right questions that will enable you to find the best candidate who can organically fit in the organization. Look for the potential a graduate has in bringing new ideas and making the company grow.
7. Target particular set of schools
Since you are looking for the best college graduates who can fit your client’s business, you can target the school that specializes with the skills the job description requires. Such schools produce great talents in the courses they specialize in. You can use the criteria of recruiting graduates who graduated in the same school as your current employees or ask your clients which schools graduate they prefer or use the internet to locate the highest producing schools of talent you want.
Conclusion
Recruitment of college graduates is a gamble, but it’s worth the risk. New graduates possess a perspective and some skills that can be very valuable to a company in the long run when mentored and trained. Use the tips above to increase the number of your applicants and hire the perfect candidates. Do not underestimate the potential of recent college graduates. They will learn skills and gain experience while working, and they can be great managers in the future.
